FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates in general to an amusement park device and in particular to a new and useful amusement park device which comprises a car which is rotatably supported in a frame and which may be caused to rotate about an axis which is substantially a tangent to the movement axis of the car under the control of a rider and which includes means for moving the car back into a locked unrotated position.
The known amusement devices which operate with a carousel that rotates about a substantially vertical axis contain cars which either are stationarily held, or which may ride upwardly and downwardly, or even turn with respect to a vertical axis, or which even rotate about a horizontal axis when they are attached to a support which rotates about a horizontal axis. The present invention, on the other hand, provides a control which permits rotation of the car about a horizontal axis while it is carried around in a circle on a carousel. This permits the device to cause the car to act like it is rolling in the same manner as an aircraft would effect a roll.
Amusement park devices, or rides are known to be in the form of a carousel in which cars are pivotally mounted on a horizontal axis on arms that extend radially from a vertical central pillar. The cars are in the form of airplanes in order to emphasize visually the feeling of flying simulated in the carousel by its rotation around the central axis. The cars are made to rise by means of a frame with toggle lever arms that are in a bent position when the carousel is at a standstill and the cars are on the ground and before rotation begins are extended by means of a self-winding guide line, so that the cars are raised to a specific height or alternatively are merely raised by centrifugal force during rotation to a height proportional to the speed of rotation. In the process, the lock of the cars into starting position (zero position) is released, so that the riders in the car can influence the position of the car by means of control members that can adjust the flaps on the imitation wings. This makes it possible to execute upswings, downswings and rolling motions around the axis that lies in the direction of travel. Rolling over is prevented by a crank connected with the axis of rotation and attached to a guide line, which line will permit the crank to perform only pendulum motions even at the highest rotation speed of the carousel and is pulled taut by the lowering of the cars upon the slowing of the carousel and forces the cars back into starting position and finally locks them there.
German Pat. No. 1,958,404 discloses a carousel with cars that can pivot 360.degree. around an axis (roll axis) that is tangential to the circle described by the car in its rotation around the central pillar and that also have movable imitation wings whose position can be altered by the riders themselves by means of control elements while they are in the car to simulate the motions of flight. This patent also discloses pivoting safety loops to hold a person securely in the car. Since the cars are suspended on pendulum arms in this carousel, the inertia of the car and its passengers is easier to overcome, so that the broader swinging motions are aimed for than with the carousel disclosed in the first-mentioned patent.
Amusement park rides with cars in suspension like those disclosed in the two above-mentioned patents, however, suffer from limiting defects at the feasible slow operating speeds and shortcomings that inhibit operation, so that a practical breakthrough in application has not been achieved to date.